RON MATTA, Brockton: Two proposals to raise millions for Brockton

Wednesday

Jun 11, 2014 at 12:15 AMJun 11, 2014 at 7:42 AM

It is long overdue that we need to enforce the city residency requirement and it is time for a non-resident tax or user fee for the city employees who collect their pay check and don’t even reside in the city. We should also consider a single-family, owner-occupied home tax credit similar to what other communities have done in the past.

The implementation of these two proposals would help bring in millions of dollars in additional revenue to our city and spur economic growth by encouraging people to reside in the city. The residency requirement calls for all city department heads to reside within the city with the exception of the chief financial officer, who supposedly has an exemption as do teachers. However, there have been exceptions to this mandate in the past.

We can ill afford any more homeless shelters, drug clinics, and marijuana dispensaries, and Section 8 housing that ultimately lead to increased crime and further drives out more people and businesses from the city, eroding our tax base.

Several years ago when a deal was cut with the public safety employees allowing them to leave the city after meeting a seven-year residency requirement, our tax base has dramatically decreased and our taxes both residential and commercial have almost doubled since 2006. Meanwhile, our city payroll increases every year and many of these non-resident employees are making well over $100,000 a year and the city does not benefit one dime from real estate, water and sewer fees, and excise tax from these city employees who do not live in Brockton.

I say enough already!

RON MATTABrockton

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